iOS 9/iTunes 12.3 not syncing app through devices

I found a way to work through this. I received a redemption code from starbucks to download an otherwise paid-for app directly to my iphone (6s 64GB). When I went to sync with iTunes on my computer, I noticed that the new app was not in my computer's stored list, so it did not transfer on sync. I started searching and found a few mentions similar to "once you download to phone there is no way to transfer to the computer."

Here's what I did:

1. Sign into your itunes account on your computer

2. Go to the pull down menu and select: Purchased.

3. On the next screen that opens, click on Apps. There are two options listed for apps: All or Not in My Library (I first selected All)

4. Locate the app that you downloaded first to your phone. I found mine this way (so it "is" listed in Apple's database somewhere and associated with me)

5. Notice on the app icon that there is a cloud and a downward arrow. I clicked on the cloud icon to download the app into my computer. (Also, notice at the bottom right of that screen that there is an option to Download All)

6. Switch over to your regular itunes list (plug in your phone). On the computer side click on the ellipses (...) to display your computer's list of the apps. I found mine there after the download in step 4. I then looked at the iphone list of apps that were available (it is now the same grouping of apps).

The reason this was important to me was I wanted to find a way to copy that app over to another device that I have and this was the only way that I could do that. I thought that all apps were "universal" and available to use on all of our apple devices. And it works. Hope this helps someone.

Has this issue been resolved yet? I quit dropbox on my Mac and then everything worked just fine. Try it and let me know whether this works.

I believe the issue won't be resolved as such, as the system is now working in the way Apple want it to work.

You can still download an app to a computer and then synch to any device you own, or you can download direct to device but NOT synch that app to a computer.

I have scrolled the thread below and couldn't find any firm resolution .

Is this issue fixed ? I am not able to transfer the apps from my iphone to itunes.

I am using iphone 5S/ V9.2.1 and itunes V12.3.2.35 . Please help

I believe my comment, which is immediately above yours, is the answer. You can no longer sync from device to computer, but you can from computer to device. It's how Apple want to run things now.

I think I've discovered a bit of welcome news with the recent iTunes 12.3.3 update:

Apple has either fixed a bug, or thrown a bone to users who use iTunes to sync new app updates to their devices -- when the option to "Sort by Date Added" is selected, the app list/picker now takes into the account the date the app was last updated, and puts those apps at the top of the list.

Prior to this, the list would actually be sorted by the date the app was added to an iTunes library, while listing the date of the purchase/update below the app name.

So now, it seems that iTunes is using the Purchase Date field, and not Date Added field, to do the sorting. Note that the former and latter are not always necessarily the same. The majority of my apps all carry the same Date Added from late last year, when I moved to a new SSD, and dragged my media library on top of a clean install of iTunes. Only the app purchases made since then reflect the same Date Added as Purchase Date, and the latter can be even later, if the app has been updated since then.

One example -- my IMDb app reflects a Date Added of 12/1/15 (new iTunes library on new drive), and since it was updated today, Purchase Date and Date Modified of 3/25/16. Prior to this, it would have been listed with the Purchase Date of 3/25/16 below the name, but the app itself wouldn't appear at the top of the list; it would be sorted by the 12/1/15 when it was added to the library, and thus end up far down the list.

Technically, that was correct, as the app was added to my library on 12/1/15, and did exactly as the option said. However, that did not take into account the possible discrepancies between that date purchased/updated and the date added. If a user does a mass migration like I did, it would throw the whole thing out of whack. The way it works now with 12.3.3 makes more sense to me, though they haven't corrected the name of the option to reflect that.

I thought I might have been seeing things, and missed this before, but I checked 12.3.2 on a backup volume with 10.11.3, and it did not do this.

Even though manual selection of app updates is still required, the difficultly is lessened by the fact that the latest updates appear at the top of the app listing, not buried somewhere further down.

I have also found that if you have music on your iPhone then sync to your computer for the first time after setting up iTunes for the first time, and having already pointed iTunes to the NAS where all the Music is installed, some of the Albums creates duplicate songs on the same album. You could end up with 2 song each of the same track on te same album

I am currently having the same issue... I have one app that is no longer available on the app store but cannot get it from one iPad to another as it will not sync to my iTunes!

Nicoleous wrote:

I am currently having the same issue... I have one app that is no longer available on the app store but cannot get it from one iPad to another as it will not sync to my iTunes!

Okay.

Try changing the wall paper on your iPhone to one that does not move. I changed from "bubbles" t a static one and this solved the problem.

Ensure you eject from itunes

Change the wall paper

are-connect

This solved the exact same issue for me.

Me too. - none of my APPS will update from itunes to my new iphone 5s.

Is it what it appears others are saying? ..... - it's working as Apple intended

Is there a correct answer to updating iphone from itunes from APPLE. After 3 hours of doing this I'm exhausted.

I even tried the link below which gave 1/2 dozen different ways to fix this. None worked. The only one I didn't try was deleting all apps and reinstalling.. Some I've purchased and am worried iTunes will ask for more money to delete from phone and itunes..

http://www.igeeksblog.com/cannot-update-apps-on-iphone-or-ipad/

Bottom line has anyone found a real solution - step by step?.

Thanks in advance

This thread began on the subject of not being able to transfer updated apps from devices to computer. This turned out to be how Apple had designed updating from ios 9 onwards, because some devices have lower storage than others the app that downloads to those devices is (presumably) smaller than for larger storage devices (or perhaps for later devices with more functionality than earlier ones). In this way those with less storage conserve space. And because the app downloaded is not the 'universal' app that was how we got our downloads prior to ios 9 it doesn't transfer to computer.

However you should still be able to download an app to your computer and then synch it from computer to device. I'm using a Windows 10 PC to download my apps to, and I then synch them to an iPhone 6S plus, an iPad Pro 9.7", an iPod Touch (latest model) and an iPad mini (latest model). I manually manage my devices, I do not use the cloud, and when devices are attached to my computer and I look at the apps selection in the screen that appears when I click on my device, I have 'automatically install new apps' ticked.

A few days ago there were a couple of Microsoft Office apps that would only part install to my iPad Pro, even deleting them from the Pro to reinstall did not work - I couldn't even download direct to device including after re-booting it, but the next morning when I synched again the apps did move over. I've also noticed occasionally an update appears in iTunes and will not download, usually a message appears to say the app is not available at this time (hmm, so why tell me it is an update!!).

So I believe Apple intended us not to be able to synch apps from device to computers, but they do let you synch from computer to device. I did have access to a mac when this thread started but I don't any more otherwise I would check out what happens on that.

As to your worries about deleting your apps from your phone and iTunes, you won't be asked to pay for them again, they are your apps and can be re-downloaded at any time - the only problem would be if the app no longer exists in the Apple Store (which is a good reason to download apps to your computer so you can back them up to an external hard drive - if the app has been removed from the store you can reinstate it from your back up, although in some cases older apps may not work with newer OS).

I'd suggest re-booting your phone, delete an app (and I wouldn't use the 'wiggle' method, go to settings/general/storage&icloudusage/manage stgorage. Here all your apps appear as a list showing how much space each is taking up. Find the app you want to delete, click on it and then click on delete app. The wiggle way does delete an app however if you want to delete an app permanently (and by that I mean you don't want it back on the device for the foreseeable future although you may want it again), the wiggle method doesn't seem to work as at the next synch with iTunes on computer, the app reappears on the device!

Dear @Macudo I think the only solution until Apple fixes this silly bug is what @ ramgopal.M has suggested. Yes you are right the App Store App on the device will show the icon badge saying you need to download apps, but when you go to updates, it will not allow you to update but will show the 'open' link. To get rid of this, go to your settings on your device and do the following:

Device (iPhone or iPad)

Settings-> Notifications->App Store->Badge App Icone = off

This will not show the notification to update apps on your device.

As @ramgopal.m has suggested the best option is to do updates only on iTunes and sync them to your devices. This I found is the only way to avoid double updates of the apps.

Hope this helps and hope that Apple listens to all the inputs in this discussion.

i am also quitting apple now. :/

I am really disappointed with the Apple, that they could not provide any solution for this issue for last ONE YEAR. which I feel a shame for them. as this was one of the usable and sensible feature to sync your ios device with iTunes, so that you can save the downloaded and updated apps on your PC/Mac at the same time and reload them to your device whenever needed, as these days so many issues are coming to apple devices and we have to take the backup again and again, and what we see when we come back to restore backup from pc/mac it is not showing any apps we loaded at the time we took backup, infact we will need to download those apps again from iTunes by wasting time on internet for those application to be downloaded again on your device, which is a complete non -sense.

I Sure Am QUITTING Apple Soon, and many of my friends, due to this foolish update. never thought that Mr Tim cook will take Steve's speech (STAY HUNGRY, "STAY FOOLISH")that serious and make things only Foolish. hah goodbye.